Wroughton based Paralympic gold and bronze medallist, Chris Hunt Skelley MBE, is one of the elite world class judoka who has joined the Paris Roadshow launched by British Judo to inspire grass roots clubs across the UK.
Following the Paralympics in September, the roadshow will run for the rest of 2024 and into 2025 and judo clubs across the UK can book their Paralympic heroes to visit, inspire, educate and perhaps run a masterclass with their members.
Chris won bronze in the +90kg class in Paris four years on from winning a gold medal in Tokyo in a different weight category. His achievement in winning two medals at two consecutive Paralympics makes him among the top achieving judo competitors in the world.
Chris said: “I’m thrilled to be invited to be part of the Paris Roadshow, which is designed to inspire and empower young people – or anyone – who loves judo and wants to be part of this fantastic sport.
“Not everyone wants to be an elite athlete and that’s okay. Judo is far more than that – it teaches discipline, resilience, it builds confidence and it’s about team effort and personal achievement. All of these skills are valuable to achieving your dreams in life, whatever those dreams may be.”
Chris, who is originally from Yorkshire and now lives in Wroughton, is one of a number of British judo athletes who are taking part in the British Judo Paris Roadshow. Another is Paris silver medallist Dan Powell and Wiltshire-based Evan Malloy, along with athletes Chelsea Giles and Emma Reid.
In the run-up to the Paralympics, Chris was also one of five ambassadors for Path to Paris, an initiative set up by Get Set, the official youth engagement programme from Team GB and Paralympics GB, and he has previously been named as a top ten sports personality on the Disability Power 100 List. He was awarded an MBE for services to sport in 2022.
Chris is registered visually impaired and lives with ocular albinism, a rare genetic condition caused by the inability of pigment cells in the eyes to produce normal amounts of pigment, resulting in blurred vision, difficulty with perceiving depth of field and sensitivity to bright lights.
To find out more about British Judo’s Paris Roadshow visit https://www.britishjudo.org.uk/introducing-british-judos-paris-roadshow/
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